The present invention relates generally to whistles, and more particularly to a whistle that is particularly adapted for mounting on one""s hand or forearm or on a relatively bulky sports glove or the like to facilitate convenient blowing of the whistle.
Many activities that involve groups of participants, such as team sports, entail interruptions during practice for instructional purposes. For example, coaches of soccer, ice hockey, field hockey and lacrosse teams, to name a few, frequently stop training practices and intra team scrimmage sessions to comment or instruct on one or more facets of a player""s technique or on team performance. In those sports where the coach may utilize a whistle to get the attention of the players but does not wish to carry the whistle on a lanyard about his/her neck so as to require grasping of the whistle with a free hand to facilitate blowing, and in particular in sports where the coach may wear protective gloves as worn by the players during practices, it is a conventional practice for the coach to support the whistle on his/her hand or forearm to facilitate blowing, thereby leaving the coaches hands free for other uses. In situations where the coach wears bulky padded gloves, the problem is more acute because the gloves do not readily allow grasping of a whistle between the thumb and a finger to position the whistle for blowing. Moreover, the bulk of the gloves leads to a lack of xe2x80x9cfeelxe2x80x9d when attempting to grasp a small article such as a whistle that might be worn on a lanyard about the coaches neck. To overcome the inconvenience of having to grasp a whistle between one""s thumb and index finger in order to blow the whistle, particularly acute for coaches and the like, one known prior whistle mounts the whistle on a wrist band that can then be wrapped and buckled about the user""s hand, wrist or forearm. Another known whistle that is promoted for mounting on a padded sports glove utilizes an elastic cord or lanyard that is attached to a whistle and can be wrapped about a sports glove to secure the whistle to the glove. The latter requires that the elastic cord or lanyard be fitted into a crease or groove in the glove, such as created where the glove cuff meets the thumb/backhand padding, so as to seat the whistle into the groove.
The aforedescribed prior whistles having a strap or elastic lanyard that enables the whistle to be worn on one""s wrist or forearm or attached to a bulky sports glove exhibit a significant drawback in that they do not adequately retain the whistle in a selected relatively fixed optimum position for blowing. This can cause a delay in the ability to blow the whistle at the exact moment desired by the coach, as well as requiring periodic re-positioning of the whistle with corresponding distraction from observing player activity.
A need thus exists for a whistle that can be readily mounted on ones hand, wrist or forearm, or on a bulky sports glove or the like, in a position to facilitate convenient blowing and that will firmly retain its selected position on the hand, wrist, forearm or glove.
Accordingly, one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide a whistle that may be readily mounted on one""s hand, wrist or forearm or on a sports glove in a position facilitating convenient blowing, and that will remain in the selected position during active movement of the user.
Another object of the invention is to provide a whistle of the mandolin shape having a contoured bracket fixed to the generally cylindrically shaped portion of the whistle, the bracket having openings therethrough to receive a flexible strap that facilitates selective attachment of the whistle to one""s hand, wrist or forearm, or to a bulky sports glove or the like, and wherein the strap cooperates with the bracket to prevent movement of the whistle from its selected position when the strap is in a taut condition.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a whistle of a generally mandolin shape that is particularly adapted for mounting on a bulky glove, such as a padded sport glove, and wherein the whistle has a contoured bracket that is fixed tangentially to the generally cylindrical portion of whistle and has a pair of rectangular openings formed therethrough that receive a flexible strap adapted to encircle the glove and maintain the bracket against the glove with the mouthpiece portion of the whistle extending outwardly from the glove, the strap being cooperable with the bracket to maintain the whistle in a selected position along the length of the strap.
A feature of the whistle in accordance with the present invention lies in utilizing a flexible strap having transverse ridges cooperate with the contoured bracket so as to maintain the whistle in a desired position along the strap when the strap is in a taut condition.
Another feature of the whistle in accordance with the invention lies in utilizing an elongated flexible strap having hook-like elements formed on one surface thereof so as to enable placement of the strap around one""s hand, wrist or forearm, or around a bulky sports glove or the like, with the hook-like element surface in overlapping releasable interlocking relation with the opposite surface of the strap to maintain the strap firmly in a selected position.
Another feature of the whistle in accordance with the present invention lies in forming the mounting bracket in a sine wave-like profile to facilitate mounting of the whistle in relatively fixed relation on one""s hand, wrist or forearm, or on a flat, grooved or rounded surface of a padded sports glove, thus enabling the whistle to be firmly located on the edge-of-hand, back-of-hand, wrist or fingers for convenient access by the user.
Still another feature of the invention lies in forming the mounting bracket in a sine wave like contour such that the strap is spaced from a portion of the bracket as it passes through the openings in the bracket in a taut condition. In this manner, movement of the whistle, after the strap is made taut about one""s hand, wrist, forearm or a glove, to a position wherein a spaced portion of the strap is urged toward the bracket further tightens the straps cooperation with the bracket to maintain the strap and whistle in relatively fixed relation.
Further objects, features and advantages of the whistle in accordance with the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the several views.